Lomita Will Try Again to Leave L.A. School District

The state Board of Education is giving city leaders another chance at their widely watched attempt to break away from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The state board is scheduled on April 7 to vote again on the proposal to carve out a 2,000-student Lomita Unified School District from the nation’s second-largest public school system. With three of its 11 members absent when the Lomita proposal came before it earlier this month, neither side could muster the six votes required either to approve or reject the proposal.

Board member Marian Bergeson, who favors the proposal, said Friday that she asked for it to be brought back to the board so all members could participate in resolving the matter.

“I don’t know what the outcome might be . . . but I think it’s only fair to those who are interested in the issue to have a decision,” Bergeson said.

The state Department of Education has recommended against allowing the Lomita proposal to move forward, saying it would disrupt the educational programs and upset the racial balance in area schools. The Los Angeles school district opposes Lomita’s and other efforts to leave the district.

As the first of several Los Angeles school district breakup efforts to reach the state board, the Lomita proposal is being carefully watched by those who want to break up the 700,000-student district and those who want to keep it together.

Lomita Councilman Robert Hargrave, a leader in the campaign to form a new district, said Friday that he was surprised and pleased to have the board take up the proposal again.

“This way, we’ll have a decision soon and we will know whether we can either work toward the election [the next step in the process] or move on to other action,” Hargrave said. “We do plan to continue to work for local control in education.”